The Last Valkyrie
by HungryPeanut
Summary: The Valkyries were redoubtable pirates and their female captain was feared by all. But one day, the crew was attacked and annihilated. A few weeks later, a slave trader arrived in the capital and made an announcement: he had captured the daughter of the great Valkyries' captain. The highest bidder turned out to be a red haired officer whose son was a sassy brat needing a lesson.
1. Chapter 1 - True freedom

**THE LAST VALKYRIE**

CHAPTER 1 - TRUE FREEDOM

* * *

" _Some birds are not meant to be caged, that's all. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. So you let them go, or when you open the cage to feed them they somehow fly out past you. And the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices, but still, the place where you live is that much more drab and empty for their departure."  
― Stephen King, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons_

* * *

… _.LUCY..._

* * *

Lucy had lost the ability to sleep weeks ago. Every time she tried to close her eyes and let her spirit drift into a world of darkness and uncontrollable imagination, the same images would immediately swoop down on her and crash onto her, making it nearly impossible to breath as her brain showed her the images of that day, again and again. She wasn't strong enough to go through that again. She still woke up in the middle of the night with a tear stained face, breathless, seeing blood everywhere. During day time, she would just walk forward, letting the slave traders pull her by the chain that was attached to her collar. And when night came, she fought sleep until she couldn't resist it anymore. Then, her tortured mind would show her images of the attack of the Royal Fleet.

This went on for weeks. Her adoptive mother had pushed her off the boat and she had landed in the small, old dinghy attached to the ship. Her head hit the side of the ship when she fell and she woke up a few hours later, surrounded by other ships. The _Valkyrie_ , her mother's boat, was nowhere to be found. She was captured by the slave traders, they told her that the _Valkyrie_ sank and all the pirates that were still on board died. Lucy believed them. She would never forget the way those soldiers slaughtered the members of the crew, the members of her family. She still could hear their screams of pain and fury as they desperately fought to save the ship and their comrades. Lucy wished she had died on the _Valkyrie_ with her precious friends.

A few weeks after the day of their departure, the traders were invited to a party that was held at some rich man's place. Lucy and the others were confined to the stables with the horses and the dogs. From the mansion, they could hear the guests laugh and talk animatedly. There was music too, and they probably had a lot of food to eat. Lucy's stomach growled and she pressed her hand against it, as if it would be enough to make it silent. She didn't understand why her body was still protesting against starvation and violent treatments when her mind had already given up on survival. A light hum started to fill the stables and Lucy ignored it, everything could burn own to ashes, it wouldn't change a thing for her. But the hum wasn't a sign of fire. The hum grew a bit louder, slowly taking the form of a comforting melody. Lucy turned her head, the rest of her body staying immobile. A woman around forty years old sitting against a dirty pillar was singing. She had long, dark brown hair and had her eyes closed as her head rocking with the soft sway of her shoulders. Their keeper hit her with his wooden stick and her head hit the pillar with great strength before she fell to the filthy ground.

A few hours passed and Lucy was still able to fight the sleep. All the others were asleep, even the keepers would occasionally nod off. There was no music anymore in the mansion, but Lucy knew that most guests were still there. Some of the women had been dragged out of the stables about an hour ago, they cried when they understood why they were being taken there. Lucy had been dragged out of the stables too, but the keepers deemed her not reactive enough and took her back to the stables. A moment later, two men entered the stables, staggering and giggling. Lucy didn't recognize them, but the keepers didn't throw them out, so she assumed they were guests of their rich host. They observed the slaves, occasionally grabbing a woman by the arm to force her up and examine her, but they always ended up telling them to sit back down. Lucy turned around and ignored them. Until she heard them laugh with a bit too much enthusiasm. She turned back around and saw the tallest of them crouching in front of a girl not older than twelve. She cried, but they still dragged her outside. Lucy watched them close the doors of the stables behind them. No one moved, neither the slaves nor the keepers.

Lucy's eyes stayed open wide as she stared at the doors. She was cold and hungry. Her body was alive even though she wanted it to die. She wanted to stop feeling. Suddenly, a very painful feeling seized her heart and squeezed it. She felt tears run down her cheeks. She wasn't dead, her mother saved her. She was alive, and she was the last representative of her adoptive mother's _Valkyries_. She would burn in hell before she let a child be raped in front of her. She was ashamed, but she was back to her former self. She jumped to her feet and the keeper that was the closest to her immediately ran toward her with his whip. The other slaves watched quietly from their resting spot, not bothering to move an inch. Lucy let the whip bite the skin of her forearm and wrap itself around it before she grabbed the leather cord and pulled on it with all her strength. The keeper didn't let go of the whip and was rewarded with her elbow crashing against his nose, knocking him out. With her newly acquired weapon, she took the remaining two keepers out without any real effort. They weren't trained fighters. She bent down to pick a sickle up and kicked the doors of the stables open. She could already hear screams near the mansion, someone had warned the masters about her rebellion. Whatever. The air was cooler now that it was so late and all the stars seemed to be shining brighter than ever. Lucy's blood was rushing through her body at a mad speed, it was like she was reborn.

She found the two bastards that had taken the girl quickly enough thanks to her young fellow's cries. The taller man was holding her wrist above her head while the other was freeing his sex. Lucy threw the sickle in expert gesture and it planted itself in the stripping man's skull. His friend jumped back to his feet, confused and furious. He hesitated when he saw Lucy, but she didn't. She smirked and snapped the whip to produce a crack sound. He flinched and took a step back, but Lucy sent the whip toward his neck and it wrapped itself around the fat, batrachian throat. His hands tried to unfasten the leather rope, but it was too tight and Lucy kept pulling on it to make sure he wouldn't actually manage to free himself.

"I beg you," he rasped, "I wasn't going to do it! I was only holding her, I wasn't going to do anything to her!"

Lucy's smirk melted like snow under the sun. She gripped the whip tighter and pulled a bit more on it. The man choked and cried. She took a few steps forward, rolling the leather rope around her arm to keep it short and tight. She crouched in front of him and glared at him.

"You were only holding her?" she repeated. "Only? Then, I'll only hold you too."

She unfastened the whip for a second and, before the man could even take a breath, the whip was completely wrapped around his fat neck. Lucy pulled on it with both hands and looked him in the eye as he tried to scratch her face and hands. She soon heard the sound of people running toward her and glanced at the petrified little girl.

"Go back to the stables," she ordered, "lie down and close your eyes. For all you know, nothing happened tonight, you were asleep. Now, go!"

Surprisingly, the girl nodded and immediately jumped back to her feet before running back to the stables. A minute later, three or four men were pouncing on her, kicking and punching her with a bit too much enthusiasm. Lucy wasn't stupid, she knew that the punishment for a slave that killed someone was death. So, she surprised to hear the leader of the slave traders yell at his men.

"Stop that, you scumbags!" he roared. "Stop hitting her, bastards!"

Lucy was already very close to lose consciousness when he finally reached them and stabbed one of the men to make the others stop.

"That girl had two major capital gains I was really counting on," the trader explained with a low voice, filled with anger, "the first is her name... AND THE SECOND WAS HER FACE, YOU PIECES OF SHIT!"

Lucy was surprised that he managed to keep calm enough not to kill another man. Lucy laughed and kept on laughing as she was dragged back to the stables. She was alive. She was beaten up and covered in her own blood, she had killed two rich guests and defied her masters. And she was finally starting to feel like she used to feel when she was fighting alongside her adoptive mother aboard the _Valkyrie_.

That night, when Lucy closed her eyes, she saw the birds plane over the ocean and felt the slow swaying of the boat on the waves. She felt the cool wind run through her hair and enjoyed the deep feeling of serenity that went hand in hand with the absolute certainty that she belonged there. Even when the wind was tempestuous and the ocean was raging, she still wouldn't change places with anyone. When she shifted in her sleep, she imagined that she could feel the comforting weight of her sword at her hip and she heard the laughs of her comrades when her hand went to rest against her heart. When she closed her eyes that night, she was back on the _Valkyrie_ , before the attack of the Royal Fleet.

 **oOo**

"They're too slow," the leader of the slave traders sighed, "can't you do something about it? We won't get there in time, at this rate..."

The fat, grumpy man that was riding his horse beside the carriage wiped his clammy forehead with his clammy hands. The sun was high and the air was stifling. He looked like he was melting under the scorching sun.

"I'll try," he told the trader.

The carriage was massive, far too large for only one person. But the trader was an important person, he traveled for weeks to find his goods and had a schedule to respect. His clients were important people. The trader was a small, thin man with a neatly trimmed black beard, black moustache and black, curly hair. He was wearing a sophisticated and obviously expensive silk tunic along with gold jewels ornamented with colorful gems such as rubies on his necklaces, rings and earrings. He waved the horseman off and closed the little curtains of the carriage.

"I don't pay you to try," he spat from behind the curtains. "When I tell you to do something, you do it."

The fat man growled, upset. Lucy snickered and he glared her. He didn't like to be treated in such a way, he wasn't one of the trader's slaves, he was a former soldier! And yet, even he was prohibited from laying a hand on her. He pulled violently on the reins and forced his horse to turn around abruptly, probably hurting the poor beast's neck in the process. He scowled in disgust at the line of slaves following the carriage, unfolded his whip and started hitting some of them arbitrarily.

"Move your asses, you miserable pieces of shit!"

The whip flew around like a mad flying snake for a few more minutes, leaving deep cuts and gashes on the skin, before the horseman finally stopped and smirked down at Lucy. She had her wrists and ankles chained since that night, even she wasn't able to save everyone. Four more horsemen were escorting this procession, all of them having swords, spears and whips at the ready. The slaves that fell under the furious attacks of the whip were forced back on their feet and pulled by the chain of their collar. It was a large, heavy piece of black metal that easily caught the eye of anybody looking at them. The collar and the simple, worn out beige tunic attested of their position. Lucy hated that collar. They had been walking for hours now, only stopping to eat a piece of bread and drink a bit of water while the horsemen took care of the horses and the traders had to meet some important people. Two slaves, a couple, tried to escape when the keepers were pissing. They were caught and killed in less than ten minutes. A few others died of exhaustion, most of them died mentally.

They reached the capital city before six in the afternoon. The streets were large, noisy and crowded. People walking, people riding horses, people pulling carts along the pavement. Some citizens sent dirty glances to the slaves, insulted them, took a few steps away to make sure they were out of reach. None of the slaves would have tried to do anything to those people, but whatever. The most frustrating part of this walk through town was that women had to lower their heads and act as if they couldn't see the men's leers or hear their crude words. Lucy never lowered her head, though, and would occasionally bare her teeth at the most persistent males, just like an angry dog would. One of the horsemen saw her and hit her back with his whip, they were allowed to hit the parts of her body that weren't visible. She spat on his foot.

The trader gave directions to the horsemen and the slaves were brought to a back alley near the huge market place, where they were caged in tiny, wooden cages. Lucy felt like an important person when she saw the individual cage that was destined for her. She would have laughed if she wasn't so hungry. They weren't given anything to eat or drink and had to wait for the sale to start, about two hours later. To kill time, Lucy picked up a few small stones and threw it at her keeper, aiming for his head. She burst out laughing when he turned around to yell at her and swallowed the stone she had just thrown. He almost died, but he was an ass, and he survived in the end, so it was ok to laugh at him. The sale started a few minutes after that incident and Lucy glared at the keepers as they dragged several slaves out of the cage and toward the market place.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the trader announced. "Today, I will show you my latest acquisitions..."

From the back alley, they couldn't hear everything he was saying since the place was very noisy, but they could make out some key words such as _young_ , _vigorous_ or _resistant_. Lucy heard applause, laughs and whistles when the trader introduced one of the young women the keepers had picked. She gritted her teeth and her hand gripped the bars of her cage. In the common cage, an old lady with silver hair was hugging a young woman around Lucy's age, rocking back and forth in a soothing rhythm. Lucy stared at them. She was willing to bet her life that the old lady wasn't worried about her own fate at all, she was heartbroken that her granddaughter had to go through all that. Lucy couldn't help admiring her. She really hoped they would stay together.

From the market place, Lucy suddenly heard the trader raise his voice and ask for everyone's attention. He apparently wanted to tell them about a very precious item he had found out in the sea. The place was even noisier than before and Lucy could barely hear a word, but one word in particular struck her with great strength: _Pirate_.

"You heard me, my dear friends," the trader repeated. "Today, you will get to buy the daughter of a pirate queen!"

* * *

… _.IGNEEL..._

* * *

Igneel frowned when he found the garden empty as well. He had looked everywhere, through the whole property, there was nowhere else where he could be. So why couldn't he find him? He walked back inside and wandered around the ground floor until he remembered that his wife was home today. He then headed toward the marble double staircase and climbed them up as fast as he could. He had to walk along the huge corridors and take two turns before finding the right wing. His wife was in the library, as he expected. He knocked to let her notice his presence and invited himself in before she could do it herself. The perks of being the husband.

"Hello, my dearest love," he smiled playfully. "You wouldn't happen to know where your idiotic son is, would you?"

His wife raised her eyes, but didn't put her book down. She smiled sweetly, trying to look innocent.

"Which one?" she asked.

Igneel cocked an eyebrow at her and lazily snatched the book from her hands to have a look at the content. He frowned and gave it back to her, visibly not interested in romance.

"You know which one," he sighed. "He was supposed to train with Freed this morning. The poor man is still waiting in the training room..."

"I think he told me that he didn't need any training before leaving with his friend. Why didn't you send his fencing master back?" his wife interrogated him. "They obviously won't have enough time to train today."

The lieutenant shrugged.

"I don't know," he admitted, "it's funny to walk by the room and see him wait inside for nothing. Should I tell him to go back?"

His wife laughed softly and nodded, going back to reading the passionate love story of Edgar de Something and lady Sophia de Something Else.

"You should," she agreed. "Don't forget to pay him for the time he spent here."

Igneel arched an eyebrow upon hearing this.

"Why should I pay him? He literally did nothing to be paid for..."

His wife sighed.

"Fine," she said, "don't pay him. Let the word spread that your son is a slacker and his father a thief."

Igneel laughed and ruffled his wife's hair, who kept on reading.

"What an exemplary family!" he agreed. "I have work to do, so I'll leave you alone. For now."

He walked out of the room and headed toward the stairs. He climbed them down and got out of the mansion, looking for the stables. He was already a bit late, but he was never on time, so his companions were used to it.

 **oOo**

They patrolled around the city, conducted investigations in crowded inns and doubtful shops, and generally just doing nothing really important. His team visited one of those shops in the middle of the afternoon after several locals reported suspicious people coming in and out of it, exchanging money and preparing chains and fancy, revealing clothes. Igneel knew that some foreign traders were supposed to be present in the capital for the night market, but he had naively hoped that they wouldn't be selling slaves.

"It's not illegal," the shop owner shrugged when interrogated by Igneel's men, "the customers come here for a reason."

"It's not illegal, but you need specific authorizations," Igneel protested. "And it's well known that these practices are firmly discouraged."

The owner shrugged.

"I have the needed authorizations," he assured. "And the customers don't care about these practices being discouraged. They pay, I sell."

The lieutenant clenched his fists. He was well known to be an important member of the newly created anti-slave trade movement and often had to deal with haughty traders who despised him.

"I'll come back tomorrow," he warned, "to make sure your purchases respect the laws. The trade of children is forbidden in the capital."

The owner smirked down at him atop his ridiculous five foot height.

"I know the laws," he drawled. "You can leave now, lieutenant. But, please, feel free to stop by whenever you want a distraction."

Igneel first glared at him, but then snickered and took a step forward to go stand right in front of the owner. He was much taller than him and the owner stopped smirking when he understood that the lieutenant wasn't a man you wanted to anger. Igneel bent down to talk in a low voice.

"I will personally see to close this place as soon as I have the opportunity," he warned. "Mark my words."

He walked out of the shop with a slow, confident step, followed by his men. But this apparent calm of his was just a mask he used to hide his frustration. His only hope of closing definitely this shop, and all the others of that kind, was to gather five hundred signatures of political figures willing to support his project of making slavery a crime. If he could gather all the signatures, he would be allowed to speak at the Congress in front of the president of the Congress and all the political leaders of the country. They would be the ones to decide if his project was adopted or refused. The Congress would be held at the end of the year and he still needed forty signatures.

While his team was walking along the crowded main street to end his patrol, he heard a very loud and agitated neigh, somewhere on the left of the market place. Igneel frowned when he heard laughs as well and told his men to continue without him.

"I'll just have a look," he assured, "don't wait for me."

The soldiers obeyed and continued up the street. Igneel was a respected, competent lieutenant of the army, they trusted him. He apologized when he bumped someone's shoulder while trying to get out of the busy street and walked a bit faster. He quickly got away from the market place and the main street, walking toward what he assumed were the wheat fields. They had been partly burned down a few days ago and the fire had made a ring-shaped dead spot in the fields. The young men of the capital often went there to spar of play around. Three of them were in the ring at the moment and Igneel sighed when he recognized them. The stupidest of them was riding a wild horse under the amused eyes of his friends, the seller looked a bit worried. The lieutenant walked down the small, grassy slope and went to stand beside the young men he had known for years, arms crossed over his chest, looking very unimpressed.

"Hello, Igneel," Gray smiled politely. "Your son is an idiot."

The other young man snickered his agreement. He was taller than Gray, almost as tall as Igneel, and was almost always scowling. The children of the city were scared of him, probably because of his red eyes. The older man sighed and nodded in approval as he watched the pink haired moron have fun on the demonic beast's back. The black horse was bucking madly and Igneel could swear he saw it try to bite the young man. After a few minutes of resisting, the horse gave up and accepted Natsu's dominance. The horseman smirked and patted the beast's neck gently.

"This guy said I could the horse if it let me ride it," he smiled at his father, "so now, it's mine. I'll name it Storm."

"Freed was still waiting in the training room when I got back home," his father retorted.

The young man arched a brow.

"Seriously? I told mom I was going out, I thought someone would escort him back home."

Igneel shrugged with his arms still crossed over his large chest.

"Well, no one did. Why did you skip training?"

His son smiled and lifted both hands, which was a very stupid thing to do when riding a wild horse.

"I don't mean to sound pretentious, but I obviously don't need it," he laughed. "I'm the best swordsman of the capital. Even the wild horses have no choice but to admit my superiority."

While his friends only snickered and shook their heads at the stupid statement, this made Igneel laugh wholeheartedly.

"Your superiority?" he repeated. "Get down and show me how superior you are, then."

Natsu laughed in response and shook his head.

"No way," he refused, "I'm superior to normal human beings. You're a monster."

"What a big mouth you have," Gray snickered. "Does mister Superior need me to remind him how many times I kicked his ass?"

"I kicked your ass more times than you kicked mine."

"But you never kicked mine," Gajeel smirked.

"Alright," Igneel interrupted. "I'm sure your conversation on the subject would be fascinating, but I need my stupid son to jump down his demonic horse and follow me."

Natsu obeyed and handed the reins to the seller along with a few golden pieces.

"Follow my friend to the mansion's stables," he ordered, "they'll take care of the horse for me."

Gray arched an eyebrow.

"Since when do I work for you?" he retorted.

"You just started, don't disappoint me, servant."

Igneel extended an arm to prevent the young man from fighting with his dumb son under the eyes of a very amused Gajeel.

"You'll settle things later," Natsu's father declared, "when the lieutenant isn't watching, for example."

Natsu smirked and waved at Gray as the young man saluted the lieutenant and took the seller to the Dragneel's mansion. Gajeel said something about helping out at his former orphanage and left right after Gray, hands in his pockets.

"He'll make you pay for this," Igneel smiled.

"I know," his son laughed. "It wouldn't be funny if he didn't."

They walked back to the heart of the capital, where the traders were getting ready for the night market. A lot of people were gathering in front of the improvised rostrums made of wooden boxes or, if they were rich enough to afford it, real small stages. The temperature was starting to drop slightly and made it a bit easier to breathe even while standing among the crowds of customers, tourists and bystanders. A dog managed to break in a small hen-coop and the distraught chickens ran around to escape the playful, but rough dog, causing more damage than Igneel would have thought possible considering their size. While he was arguing loudly with a fellow slave trader, a chubby man with pale skin bumped his shoulder against Natsu's and didn't apologize as he didn't seem to notice it. Igneel knew what his son thought of slave traders, and he knew he had quite the temper, but he wasn't fast enough. His son grabbed the man by his collar and brought him right in front of his face.

"Watch it, old man," he growled, "we don't have collars here."

His father's large hand settled firmly on his shoulder and pulled him back without a word for the terrified trader. He did keep a wary eye on the two men that had pulled knives out during the incident, though, probably the trader's bodyguards.

"You have to be more cautious," he told his son, "these guys are never alone."

A dry laugh escaped the young man's lips.

"So what?" he retorted. "I alone am more than enough to knock them all out. This place makes me sick, I'm leaving first. I'll wait for you at home."

Igneel watched him leave the market place at a fast pace, bumping into traders with a very obvious will to show his contempt for them. The lieutenant shook his head in defeat and sighed. What was he going to do with this kid? Natsu was a fast learner, he had quickly mastered the various arts of sword that existed in the capital. Even Freed couldn't beat him with a sword anymore. But it didn't mean that he was unbeatable, the day would come when some vicious bastard would find the perfect occasion to strike and take his son away from him forever.

He turned around to go back to his team and bumped into a tiny lady holding a large basket full of vegetables that scattered on the dusty ground. He apologized and kneeled to help her pick it up, but she saw his uniform and got a bit scared. You don't make a soldier of the royal army kneel in the dust to pick up your vegetables... Igneel reassured her and patted her head, it was his fault, he was only doing the right thing. The small girl – that looked to be around 20 despite her height – insisted and tried to pick everything up on her own until she froze and stared at something near Igneel's feet. She tried very hard to look like she hadn't seen anything, but Igneel noticed her distraught look and searched the ground for the thing that was so important to that girl. He found it quickly, the small iron knife was right beside his left foot. He picked it up and the girl watched, petrified. The blade was small, rusty and blunt, she wasn't going to stab anybody with that.

"What were you going to do with that?" he asked.

She stared at the knife and tears filled her eyes. It looked like she had failed to save someone she loved when she lost the little blade.

"I..." she sobbed.

"AND NOW, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!"

Igneel gritted his teeth when the trader started to yell. The man had quite the loud voice, but he had been selling slaves for the last hour and hadn't been that loud. What the hell was wrong now?

"I TOLD YOU THAT I WAS HERE TONIGHT WITH A MARVELOUS PRESENT!"

Igneel glared at the trader that couldn't see him among this large crowd and turned his head back to the young girl, who obviously wasn't there anymore. He growled and stood back up, determined to arrest this trader for noise nuisance.

"YOU KNOW I'M A MAN OF HONOR!" He went on. "TONIGHT, I OFFER YOU THE DAUGHTER OF THE INFAMOUS PIRATE QUEEN 'THE _VALKYRIE_ '!"

Igneel froze, his whole body suddenly weighting tons, his lungs contracting painfully in his chest. He stared at the makeshift stage as two bulky men dragged a young, blonde woman behind them. She was kicking them in the knees and fighting back like a lion. One of the men holding her tripped on the wood and she immediately jumped on the occasion. She kicked the side of his knee and used the chains that were tying her wrists to strangle him, threatening to kill him if they didn't let her go. This was the adoptive daughter of the _Valkyrie's_ captain? The last time he saw her, she was a little girl, not older than five. It took five men to neutralize her and the trader didn't look so proud anymore.

"Don't worry," he said, "we will obviously tame her before giving her to the buyer."

Tame her. The words made him sick and furious. Lucy arched a brow at the trader and her eyes then scanned the crowd. She snickered and it quickly turned into a dark, menacing laugh.

"You want to tame me," she repeated. "Mark my words, I'll kill anyone who buys me and you won't even have enough time to see it coming."

The trader glared at her, he looked ready to beat her to death on the spot. Instead, he breathed in and forced himself to smile.

"All bark and no bite," he laughed, "but I'm sure the desperate words of an idiot female won't be enough to scare the brave men of the capital. The auction starts at 40 coppers!"

An old man with rotten teeth raised his hand. Another one, tall and fat raised his own hand to offer more. At some point, when the highest offer was 75 coppers, Igneel heard someone say that he'd gladly tame her from the back and ride her until she had no strength left, after what he'd let his brothers and sons do her too. He turned his head and saw that the man was a regular of the shop he had visited with his men, a few hours earlier. The auction reached 90 coppers, it was more than a whole monthly pay for most commoners. Igneel looked at the girl. She was calm, observing the bidders, most probably starting to think of various ways to kill them. The trader never gave them her name, but he knew it, her adoptive mother told him when he last saw her and he still remembered. Lucy. Igneel grabbed the shoulders of the man standing in front of him and pulled on it. He pushed everyone out of his way and no one dared say a thing to the pissed off officer that was progressing quickly toward the trader's stage. The trader saw him when he jumped on the stage and dropped a small bag at his feet.

"5 golds," he announced.

Silence filled the place and everyone stared at the small bag. 5 golds represented years of salary for a commoner. The trader bent down and picked the bag up as Igneel did the same with Lucy. She pulled away when he grabbed her elbow and he laughed when she growled and hissed. She was perfect. The trader snapped out of his trance when he saw the very rich officer walk away from him, holding the pirate by her arm.

"Sir," he called, "you can't take her immediately. We still have to tame her."

Igneel glared at him and he gulped.

"You got your money," the officer growled, "now, fuck off."

Lucy arched a brow at the officer and turned her head to smirk at the trader, who seemed to have lost the ability to talk. The crowd made way for them when they jumped off the small stage and walked away.

"Just because you told that bastard to fuck off doesn't mean I won't kill you," she warned him. "I'll just do it quickly so you won't feel pain."

Igneel laughed wholeheartedly. She really was perfect.

"I think it might be a little too difficult for you at the moment," he smiled, "but feel free to try."

Lucy stared at him with inquisitive eyes.

"Are you going to rape me?"

"No," he immediately answered, "no one will harm you where I'm taking you. You have my word."

She didn't look convinced, though.

"You spent 5 golds on a mere human pet?" she asked, incredulous.

The officer smirked when images of his son on the black horse's back came to his mind. This was one beast he wouldn't be able to tame.

"Not quite," he laughed.

* * *

… _.LUCY..._

* * *

Lucy stared at the jar with a frown. How was this old thing considered art? The drawings weren't even that well done. She sighed and went to sit back on the soft sofa. The officer that bought her had told her he needed to make some preparations for her arrival and made her wait in a large living room, with no one to guard her. The female servants took her to the bathroom and actually had to help her wash herself since she had never used a bathtub before, they didn't have this luxury on the ship. They left when Lucy told them that she could do the rest on her own and found a very sophisticated gown when she walked out naked of the bathroom and into the bedroom that had been given to her. She would die before agreeing to put such a thing on. Her old shirt and pants were nowhere to be found and she knew that the traders had given them to the officer, so she called one of the servants, who blushed madly and covered her eyes when she entered the room and saw her in all her glory.

"I can't find my clothes," Lucy explained, not bothering to cover herself.

She almost laughed when the servant stuttered and pointed blindly in the direction of the gown, on the bed.

"We... we brought you new... new clothes. If it doesn't... fit, we can find you another..."

"I want my own clothes back, she interrupted her.

"But..."

Lucy sighed and leaned on the wooden pillar of her bed.

"If you won't bring them here," Lucy warned, "I'll go search for them on my own. As I am now."

The servant blushed even more and bent down, quickly leaving the room.

"I understand," she assured, "I'll bring your clothes back. Please, don't go out..."

Lucy grinned and thanked her before letting herself fall on the thick mattress, genuinely laughing. Someone knocked on the door a few minutes later and Lucy allowed them to come in. Another servant had been sent with her old, but washed, clothes. This one had long, wavy, brown hair and didn't look embarrassed at all, even though Lucy was still dressed with thin air.

"Did I scare the other girl away?" she laughed.

The servant smirked and invited herself in, walking toward the bed and putting the clothes on the mattress.

"You did," she laughed, "I think you scarred her for life."

"You don't look bothered, though," Lucy noted.

The servant cocked an eyebrow and eyed her appreciatively.

"With all due respect," she smirked, "you're not the first naked woman I find lying in a bed. Though I usually find them in my own bed."

Lucy sat up on the bed and grabbed her shirt, smiling as she shrugged it on.

"Should I fear for my virtue?" she bantered.

The servant's smile suddenly turned much softer as she shook her head.

"No," she said, "my heart is taken. By a man, mind you."

Lucy jumped to her feet to pull her pants up. God, did it feel good to look like her old self again.

"A man?" she repeated. "You like both men and women equally?"

It was probably considered a very private subject, but Lucy was a pirate, she didn't care about the rules of etiquette.

"I used to," she confirmed. "Now, I can't think of anybody but him, even when a gorgeous woman invites me in her room, lying naked in her bed."

Lucy nodded comprehensively and slipped her boots on.

"I'm ready," she said. "Am I allowed out of the room now?"

 **oOo**

The servant guided her through the huge mansion until they finally reached a large wooden door that most probably served as the lieutenant's office. The servant knocked and the officer told them to come in. The door was heavy, but the brown haired servant pushed it open pretty easily. The office was a large room with hardwood flooring and ugly paintings on the walls. In the center of the room was a large mahogany desk buried under a large number of files. Two men were sitting there, one of them was the officer, Lucy didn't know the other one.

"Thank you, Cana," the officer said, "you can leave now."

The servant, Cana, bowed down - slightly - and left, closing the door behind her. The officer stood up and the other man turned around to frown at her.

"Young lady, you look lovely," the officer smiled. "I thought you wouldn't like the dress, but my wife really wanted to see you in it. She's always wanted a daughter, you see. And instead, she had this blockhead here. Say hello, Natsu."

The other man was younger than the officer, but probably still a bit older than Lucy. He was looking strangely at his father, and Lucy was looking strangely at his pink hair.

"Who's that?" the officer's son asked, sounding very suspicious.

Igneel smiled and wrapped an arm around Lucy's shoulder, the young woman immediately shaking it off.

"Son, this is Lucy," he declared. "I bought her for you today."

"What!?"

"Here's the deal," Igneel continued without paying attention to his son's angry look. "Lucy, if you can bring Natsu to his knees, you're free. Natsu, if you can defeat me or pay me back what I spent on her, I'll set her free."

"I never agreed to this," the pink haired young man protested.

Lucy snickered, poor baby whose father bought him a human being as if it was a dog. Who was wearing the collar here? Igneel laughed as if his son had just made a very funny joke.

"That's what being a father is all about," he smiled, "if I tell you to do something, you do it!"

Natsu glared at him and Lucy watched as the officer kept on smiling as if the situation was really funny. For some reason, she got the feeling that her time at the Dragneel's would be everything but peaceful.

* * *

 **End of chapter 1**


	2. Chapter 2 - Daredevil

**THE LAST VALKYRIE**

CHAPTER 2 – DAREDEVIL

* * *

" _It is for your own good to love a dare-devil rather than a holy coward. A dare-devil is a unique devil, battling your fears, your pains, conquering your uncertainties, carrying you his arms, and flying out of the corrosive fire. The coward is a trickster serpent, which vanishes in your time of despair, and appears in time of equanimity."  
― Michael Bassey Johnson_

* * *

 _...Market place of Magnifica, capital city of Emporion..._

* * *

During the day, at first glance, Magnifica looks as beautiful as its name lets on. The city is full of life with its colorful houses, cobblestone streets, fancy restaurants and typical shops. Not to mention the children running around, laughing and playing, the couples holding hands near the river, the cats purring and showering all citizens with affection, the dogs happily following anyone willing to feed them.

When you look at the pretty picture with a bit more attention, though, you start noticing things that make you understand that you're only seeing what the city is willing to let you see. Like some children discreetly exchanging money in hidden corners, women glancing behind them with worried eyes, men with black eyes or split lips.

At night, Magnifica becomes a paradise for murderers, thieves, rapists, conspirators and the worst kind of criminals you could think of. Locals are too scared to go out at night. The city wasn't always like that, though. Around fifteen years ago, you could go out at night with your lover to go to the restaurant or take a walk in the public park. Nobody really knew how things got so bad, they just heard things about some important politicians being involved. And when these people were involved in the city's dark business, not even the soldiers had the power to protect the citizens.

"Have you heard about what happened this morning?" the first man had a large blond beard and gold rings on each finger. He and his friends were sitting at a private table on the first floor of a red shop. "The thing with Igneel?"

"You mean the slave he bought?" his friend asked. "I heard he paid ten golds for her."

"I heard it was fifty golds!"

The two men sitting in front of Blond beard were twin brothers with dirty black hair and matching scars on their jaws. They never answered the people who asked them if they had scarred themselves on purpose. Blond beard snickered and took a sip from his beer.

"He's always been all sweet talk about freedom and the cruelty of slavery, but he's just a starving wolf when you show him a pair of nice, firm titties."

"His wife still looks hot, though," twin 1 noted.

Blond beard shrugged and smirked.

"Right, I'd bang her too." He laughed loudly. "What a lucky man he is, that Igneel! The old one has the experience and the young one has the body. I speak from experience when I tell you that this is the best combination!"

"I agree with you," twin 2 agreed. "Now, if the young ones could just stop fighting and crying... I know they only do it the first times, but it's still a pain in the ass."

"Can't agree with you on that, brother. I think it's much funnier when you have to break a few bones in the process."

"There was that one time when I bought a couple of slaves," Blond beard laughed darkly, "I forced the man to pin the woman to the mattress while I fucked her. It was so funny! But the girl climbed up the roof of the villa, the following morning, and jumped off. She died on the spot. 90 cobbers, gone just like that. What a bitch."

"We're drifting away from the main topic," twin 2 reminded him.

"Right," Blond beard agreed. "Igneel. Well, what more is there to say? He's losing a lot of supports because of what he did, so he'll never be able to talk in front of the president of the Congress. We've got nothing to worry about anymore. In the end, he's just a man."

* * *

 _...LUCY..._

* * *

"Who said I'd go along with what you say?" Lucy asked, defying the master's authority.

Igneel frowned at her, tilting his head to the side.

"I bought you," he reminded her. "Aren't you supposed to obey me?"

Lucy crossed her arms on her chest.

"You saw me on the stage," she countered. "You knew what you were paying for. And I could just kill you all and run away."

Natsu sniggered and she glared at him. Igneel's large hand stroked his bearded chin as he hummed, visibly in deep thought.

"Lucy's right," the officer finally agreed. "There's nothing interesting for her in the deal."

"You mean aside from her freedom?" Natsu asked with a voice filled with irony.

"Let's say this," Igneel beamed, "Lucy, if you can defeat Natsu – without killing him, please – I'll set you free and give you ten golds."

Lucy had to use all her self control not to gape at him and keep a straight, bored face. Even if she spent the rest of life stealing from the nobles she found on her way, she'd probably never manage to get her hands on such a huge amount of money.

"I accept."

Natsu squinted his eyes at her and shook his head in incredulity.

"You agree with this? He told you to be my slave, you know?"

The young woman shrugged.

"He also told me to beat you up," she reminded him. "And I'll even get paid for it."

The pink haired young man laughed and rolled his eyes, still shaking his head in incredulity.

"Alright," he said, "let's say that I agree to do this. Since there's no way this little girl will manage to last more than three seconds against me, I think it's safe to assume that I'll beat you before she beats me. But what's in for me?"

"Wow," Lucy laughed, "you're the most conceited brat I've ever met."

Natsu arched a brow and smirked at her.

"Did you just call your master a 'conceited brat'? I should punish you for that."

"I'd like to see you try," she smirked back.

Igneel burst out laughing and roughly patted their backs, looking pleased with himself.

"I'm glad to see that you're already getting along!" he exclaimed. "Natsu, about your reward, we'll talk about it a bit later, but I promise you will like it."

"Yeah, right..."

"Don't doubt my word," his father scolded him. "And aren't you supposed to meet with your friends for some weird kind of night training? I have a meeting too, so I won't be home tonight."

"I refuse to take her with me," Natsu immediately stated.

"Fine with me," Igneel laughed, walking out of the office, "try locking her in her room then."

Natsu glanced at Lucy and she smirked.

"You'd die trying," she warned him.

He rolled his eyes and scoffed.

"Right. I forbid you to speak without my permission."

"As if I'd want to talk to you and your idiotic friends," she retorted.

Natsu glared at her and walked toward the door. Lucy thought he was going to leave her here and go back to his room, slamming the door of the office behind him like a pouting five year old brat, but he didn't. He checked the corridor to make sure that his father was gone and closed the door, then walked back toward her. She stood firm and held his gaze.

"I don't know who you think you are," he started with a low voice, "and I don't care. Just because I'm against slavery doesn't mean I'll forgive a slave that shows disrespect to me. Start behaving yourself if you don't want to piss me off for good."

The young woman glared at him. He was impressive, she had to admit. He was tall, had firm muscles and a dark look that probably scared the shit out of a lot of people. Not to mention his name, the name of a royal officer. But Lucy would bet her head that he was nothing but a good little soldier that wouldn't stand a chance against a mercenary that wouldn't fight following the rules.

"You're lucky that your father is here to protect you," she reminded him. "Otherwise, I'd slice your throat at night."

"I could just smash your head against the wall, right now," he warned her. "Then, I'd be free from you and my father's idiotic bet."

"You wouldn't last three seconds against me, little boy."

He froze and his eyes widened. She had used his words against him. He sneered.

"Fine," he gave in. "Come with me. One night with my friends and you'll want to run away from this city right away."

Natsu apparently decided that if he was forced to keep her as a slave, he'd make her work like one. He made her cook for him and she tried to poison him, he ordered her to massage his shoulders and she tried to knock him out, he told her to put on a red, very tight and revealing dress, she burned it. In the end, he had her follow him everywhere he went and she even had to come inside his bedroom and wait in front of the baths while he washed. She had to listen to him as he sang a strange song about a guy named Gray, who apparently was a weak idiot and a pervert, if the lyrics of the song were anything to go by. He came out of the baths completely naked and still drenched in water.

"Oh, I forgot about you," he admitted when he saw her.

Lucy thought of the moment when Cana entered her room a bit earlier. She tried to remember her face when she saw Lucy lying naked on her bed. And copied it. Her ''master'' was a very attractive man when dressed, but he was positively appetizing when naked. Though, Lucy would be damned if she let it show on her face. He shrugged his clothes on and yawned. He picked up a shoulder bag in linen that had obviously been tossed in a corner of the room. He stopped when he saw Lucy and smirked before tossing his bag at her.

"If you're so happy to be my slave, you can hold my stuff too," he sneered. "Let's go."

"You're not taking your sword?"

Natsu arched a brow at her.

"Why would I take it?"

Lucy shrugged, not really interested in his reasons, now that she thought about it.

"Your father said you were going to train tonight," she reminded him, "but it's not like I really care what you do..."

The young man smirked and walked out of the room, motioning for her to follow him.

"I'm not really going to train," he explained, "but it would be too difficult to explain to my father."

She snorted.

"Right. You wouldn't happen to be making up excuses so that your dad won't forbid you to go out at night, would you?"

He glared at her above his shoulder and continued to walk toward the large set of marble stairs.

"What did I tell you about disrespecting me?" he growled. "And I don't need my father's permission to go out. I'm a big boy, mind you."

 _"Exactly_ ," Lucy thought, " _you're just a big boy, a tall brat that's still far from being a real man_."

"If you say so," she shrugged.

He squinted his eyes at her and stopped walking so he could turn around and face her properly.

"Stop doing that," he ordered.

She arched a brow.

"Doing what?"

"Shrugging," he specified, "stop shrugging all the time. It makes people think that you're not interested in what they're saying. It's rude."

"But I really don't give a damn about what people say," she argued.

Natsu sighed and shook his head in defeat.

"I don't care," he countered, "just don't do it. It's an order."

She shrugged.

"As you wish."

He glared at her.

"You just did it again."

"No, I didn't," she retorted, starting to feel amused by this master-slave thing.

"Yes, you did," he groaned. "Whatever, let's go already."

She shrugged.

"As you wish."

* * *

 **oOo**

* * *

Lucy half expected her master to ask for a carriage to be prepared for him, but he didn't. He didn't tell anyone about where he was going either, just walked out of the mansion, Lucy on his heels.

"Might as well warn you, I'm a quick walker," he distractedly told her over his shoulder. "If you're too slow, I'll just leave you where you are and go on."

The weather was really good that night, Lucy noticed. The wind was nicely refreshing and a silky veil of shining stars illuminated the clear sky. Lucy smiled, taking advantage of the peacefulness of the moment to take a deep breath in. All the while, following Natsu's pace without any difficulty. It all felt familiar to Lucy: the smell of the night, the coolness of the weather, the gentle wind in her hair, it felt like she was back on her ship. Those small, golden lights she could see from the capital city, farther away? The warning lights of a port where they would berth for the night. The voices of the people that were growing louder as they approached from the city? Only the background burble of the locals the crew usually ignored as they explored an unknown place.

Now, if she could make a wish, she'd do anything to feel the gentle swaying of the ship under her feet, hear the soft song of the seabirds, or climb up the tallest mast to the crow's nest. Or better yet, listen to the crew's crude jokes. Listen to the women of the crew teach her about how men were simple-minded creatures and could be easily manipulated if you knew how to use both your head and your body – she was six or seven years old when she got her first lesson on the matter, but was forbidden to practice before she turned fifteen years old. She would listen to the authoritarian, powerful and joyful voice of her mother.

Lucy closed her eyes and tried to focus on her portrait of the woman that would never stop haunting her. She was a strict woman, but her heart was the purest of all. She never kissed Lucy's forehead to wish her a goodnight, never read her stories to help her sleep, never told her that she was a cute little princess. But she killed men to protect her, she ran into an ablaze cabin to save her, she dyed her hair a funny color to make her laugh. She died to save her life.

The awake dreamer bumped into something hard and big. She jumped back, her eyes wide open and her thoughts entirely back to the present. Her hand instinctively went to get the handle of her dagger, at the back of her belt, only to find it empty of any weapon. She sighed when she realized the thing she had bumped into was only Natsu's back. The young man was looking at her with a curious expression on his face, arching a brow at her.

"Watch where you're going, airhead."

They were standing in front of a slightly less practicable path leading down a slope covered with tall grasses.

"Don't stop walking without any warning," she retorted. "Why did you even stop?"

Natsu was squinting his eyes at the darkness down the slope. It took him a while to answer her and it did annoy her a little bit.

"I can't see them," he explained. "We were supposed to meet near this little tree, right there."

"So what? Maybe they're just late. Are you afraid of the dark? Don't worry, I'll protect you if any bad guy comes to kidnap you."

He glared at her over his shoulder and walked down the path, not bothering to answer her. Lucy followed him, smirking.

"Oh, but wait!" she suddenly exclaimed with a voice filled with mock fear. "Maybe they were attacked by bad guys before we got here! I'm so sorry, Pinky, your friends were horribly slaughtered. Do you want to go back home and eat something?"

"Don't call me Pinky," he growled. "And I told you not to speak without my permission."

She rolled her eyes and followed him in silence as they finally reached the bottom of the slope and walked toward the tree. Lucy instantly felt it. She slowed down and closed her eyes for seven seconds to adjust her view to the darkness. She sniffed the air and focused on her hearing to get a general idea about who and where the enemies were. Heavy footsteps and breathing of excited individuals. Men, Lucy could have sworn, probably two or three.

"What are you doing?" Natsu called from the tree. "I told you not to walk so slowly!"

"Yes, yes," Lucy answered. "Coming, coming. I just need a minute, something got stuck in my shoe..."

She bent down to make it look like she was indeed trying to get a stone out of her shoe. In the dark, it was almost impossible to see that she was actually picking up a large, heavy stone. She heard Natsu sigh in impatience and something moved in the bushes to her left. She abruptly turned around and threw the stone in the bushes with all her strength.

A cry of pain was heard right away and a large silhouette jumped out of the bushes and pounced on her. The young woman stepped to the side to dodge the man and pulled on his shoulders as she swept his legs out from underneath him. The large man fell to the ground, face burying itself in the muddy ground. The one that had been hit by the stone was walking out of the bushes, a hand on his left eye, the other raised in a sign of surrender. A third man was here, smiling despite his precarious situation.

"Wow, the daughter of the Valkyrie, indeed," the latter laughed. "I'm impressed."

Lucy glanced at Natsu. He hadn't moved an inch. She frowned when she noticed that he was smirking.

"This was pathetic," he sniggered, "you guys are too predictable."

"I think she pierced my eye," the other man whined.

The large guy that was thrown head first in the mud stood back up, coughing and wiping his face with his dirty hands.

"You look charming like that, Gajeel," the laid back man smiled.

"Fuck you."

So the big guy with the mud on his face was named Gajeel, the others's names were still unknown, and the three of them were friends with her idiot master. Lucy glared at him.

"What?" he asked. "They only wanted to prank you and you attacked them first. Guys, this is Lucy, my servant. Lucy, this is..."

The laid back man who seemed to have a smile nailed to his face suddenly jumped in between them and extended a hand toward Lucy. She didn't move at all.

"I'm charmed," he drawled, taking her hand in his own.

Lucy snatched her hand back before he could kiss her hand. She violently grabbed him by the collar and glared at him.

"What the hell were you trying to do?" she growled.

Natsu watched this little scene with a small, satisfied smile on his face.

"Lucy, this is Loke. I see that you already appreciate him. And the guy whose eye you almost punctured just now is Gray. Say hello, Gray."

"Yeah..."

"So," Natsu went on, his face still sporting his smug smile, "how about you let go of Loke's collar, Lucy? I think you're choking him."

Lucy didn't like the way he was talking to her, as if she was some kind of unintelligent barbarian, but still let go of the pervert's clothes. Chills ran down said pervert's spine and he laughed.

"Man, strong women always agitate me," he smiled. "If I'm not careful, I might fall in love with you."

"I'd appreciate it if you could refrain yourself from doing so," she retorted.

Natsu smirked and the injured man, Gray, whistled.

"I could feel that burn," he laughed. "I heard things about her, but I thought people were making a big deal out of nothing."

"She's not that tough," Natsu countered. "I had her obeying each of my orders all day long without complaining."

Lucy sneered, but didn't contradict him.

"Seriously?" Loke eagerly asked. "How lucky... Can you order her to become my personal servant for one day?"

"No."

"Wait," Gajeel groaned, "don't tell me she's tagging along tonight?"

Lucy smirked when Natsu growled in annoyance and rolled his eyes.

"It's not like I want her to come either," he retorted, "dad just told me to bear with her or try to lock her up. If she's strong enough to kick your ass, it would have been a waste of time to try and lock her up."

"She didn't kick my ass," Gajeel angrily retorted. "She caught me by surprise, that's all."

"That's all," Lucy sneered.

The tall young man glared at her.

"You've got a problem?"

"No, no," Lucy scoffed, "please, don't pay attention to the lowly servant."

"Making fun of me, now?"

Gajeel's behavior became slightly more menacing, which only amused Lucy even more.

"Why should I bother?" she countered. "You're doing that very well on your own."

"Hey, Gajeel," Natsu called sternly, "stop bickering, will you? We'll be late if you keep it on."

Reluctantly, Gajeel turned away from her.

"What are we going to say about Gray's eye?" he mumbled. "He'll never be allowed to enter if we tell them how he got the black eye..."

"We'll just lie," Natsu distractedly answered, "say he fell down some stairs or fought with a drunkard somewhere."

"As if people would believe that!"

Loke laughed and patted his friend on the shoulder.

"Face it, Gray, you have a bad reputation. Ladykiller."

"Violent," Natsu agreed.

"With a mean look in his eyes," Gajeel added.

"That's rich coming from you guys!"

They entered the city making way too much noise, but no one bothered trying to stop them. Lucy got very insisting, suggestive looks from most men they met on their way, but ignored them all. Women weren't allowed to go out at night and she was the only woman in a group of men, of course people would want to believe that she was of little virtue. And there was her collar too. They needed this kind of pathetic scandals to find distraction in their boring lives.

Lucy smirked. Most of them would have had a heart attack had they been on the ship during a particularly wild party.

"Are all men of this country fragile little boys or what?"

Loke immediately jumped on the occasion.

"Most of them are," he agreed, "but I'll gladly show you that I'm not a little boy at all, if you want."

Natsu glanced at her over his shoulder, then at the nearest group of men that had been ogling her.

"Ignore them," he told her, "ignore this idiot too. They're all a bunch of dogs in heat."

Gajeel smirked at him and Gray sniggered.

"Here again," he sang, "that's rich coming from you."

Lucy quietly observed the boys as they exchanged knowing looks. Natsu only looked a bit lost.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh please," Gray laughed, "you've rejected every marriage proposal, no matter who they come from. Not to mention that the dowry was very high for each of them."

"How do you even know about that?"

"The stripper's right," Gajeel agreed, "it's suspicious that mister perfect refuses to get married. Do you have a secret lover or something?"

"You guys aren't married either," Natsu retorted.

"Gajeel's a bastard and I'm engaged," Gray countered. "Our situations are normal, yours not so."

"Don't listen to them, Natsu," Loke smiled, "being free is awesome! You're young, it's your duty to fully enjoy life before you settle down!"

"What are you even..."

Lucy frowned, starting to feel a bit lost.

"What's a bastard?" she asked.

The boys eyed her with surprised looks, but ended up giving her explanations.

"A bastard's someone who was born of unmarried parents," Natsu explained, "an illegitimate child."

Which meant she herself most probably was a bastard as well.

"And bastards aren't allowed to get married in this country?"

"Well, they are allowed to," Gray hesitated, "but..."

"But you'll never find a woman willing to stain her name by marrying a lowly bastard," Gajeel ended for him. "That's what a bastard is."

Lucy stared at him. Gajeel was a tall young man with muscular arms and legs, wide shoulders, a large chest, long, unruly black hair, red eyes, and a lot of scars. He had a menacing attitude and a hard look in his eyes. Lucy smiled, her mother would have loved him.

"Well," she said, "this is stupid. Where I come from, we choose our partners after they proved their value. We don't give a shit about their name."

"Yeah, well," Natsu coughed, "this is a civilised country. We don't try to kill each other to find a partner."

Lucy rolled her eyes.

"I'm not even surprised that you think that way," she sighed.

"I actually find this very interesting," Loke smiled. "Can you tell us more about this? How are we supposed to prove our value to women?"

Lucy hesitated, not sure if the pervert was genuinely interested or if he was only making fun of her. She shrugged, it wouldn't hurt to tell him even if he was only playing around.

"Men aren't the only ones who have to prove their value," she corrected, "women do too. We have to show our partner that we're strong enough to protect them, to stand by their side no matter what. We have to be loyal to them, show them our devotion and love. My adoptive mother stood by her husband's side when he was struck by a very dangerous and highly contagious illness until he was healed. In return, he attacked a ship of the royal navy that was transporting prisoners. Het set the prisoners free, evacuated the royal ship and burned it. He asked her to be his as they watch the ship sink. Words don't do the trick for us, we have to make sure our feelings are strong enough to reach the other. Though, I'm sure this kind of things would be considered barbaric by the men and women of the capital. You're all too refined to do such things, right?"

Loke smiled softly as he listened to her and turned toward Natsu when she was done talking.

"And you called them uncivilised?" he mocked. "True, they're a bit passionate, but they're much more authentic than we'll ever be."

Natsu rolled his eyes and stared at some bushes that he suddenly found unusually interesting.

"Where do you even come from?" Gajeel asked.

Lucy shrugged again, eyes falling to the ground.

"I don't remember," she admitted. "But my adoptive mother came from the same country. She taught me everything I know."

"We're here," Gray suddenly said.

Lucy lifted her eyes. They were standing in front of a worn out door trapped in between dirty, old brick walls, in the back of a narrow alley. She glanced at Natsu and noticed that he was dressed like a commoner. He turned toward her and took a woolen brown cloak out of the linen bag she had been carrying.

"Put that on and wear the hood," he said. "We don't want anyone to recognize you."

He knocked at the door: five quick, sharp blows. Muffled noises were heard from inside and the door opened to reveal a small, thin, little girl with blue hair. Her sad eyes brightened the moment she saw Natsu and his friends. She smiled happily and jumped at the pink haired brat, her arms lacing themselves around his neck.

He laughed and hugged her back.

"I'm happy to see you too," he said. "How are things inside, tonight?"

"Not too good," she admitted with a small, shy voice. "Maybe you should come back tomorrow. They're pretty strong this time..."

Natsu laughed and ruffled her hair.

"Don't worry," he smiled, "we're still better."

The little girl didn't look convinced, but didn't try to argue either. She finally noted Lucy's presence and politely smiled at her. When they entered, Lucy noticed that she wasn't the only woman inside. Small groups of people, mostly men, were sitting around a ring made of chains. Some of them had women draped around them, sitting on their laps or at their feet, they all had lifeless eyes and looked heavily drugged. One of the oldest men of the largest group was even using one of his women as a footrest. Lucy turned around and glared at Natsu.

"Why the hell did we come here?" she growled.

Natsu immediately received insisting looks from the men around him and he clenched his fists. He grabbed her arm and dragged her away from the crowd.

"Listen," he growled menacingly, "I know this is very difficult for you, but I want you to keep quiet while we're here. It's a fucking serious order. Don't talk if I don't tell you to do so, don't sit if I don't tell you to do so, don't do anything without my permission."

Lucy's eyes darkened even more and she felt her blood pulse in her veins.

"You disgust me," she growled, "trying to look like a good boy in front of your father and hanging out with these people at night? You're trash, exactly like they are."

The young man contracted his jaw and glared back at her. He didn't say anything for a few seconds and shook his head, as if giving up on something.

"Listen," he said, "it's not what it looks like, ok..."

Lucy laughed humorlessly.

"What a creative excuse," she countered.

"Be quiet and listen to me," he growled. "I'm serious, we'll be in big trouble if you attract too much attention. He sighed again, looking very tense. I'll explain everything to you when we leave this place, but meanwhile you'll have to act as if you were scared of me. I have two fights tonight, but the others only have one, so we won't be long, ok?"

"I don't understand a thing you're saying."

"I know, and I understand how you feel, believe me. Please, stay still for now. You have no idea how important it is for us to be here tonight."

Lucy gritted her teeth and shook her head in utter disbelief. She couldn't believe she was going to play along.

"Be quick," she spat.

Clandestine fights. The ring made by the chains served as a limit: if a fighter exited the area delimited by the chains, he lost. Lucy observed as the third fight was quickly coming to an end. A tall, bulky man was giving hell to a smaller dude with a burn mark on his face. It ended pretty quickly. Natsu ordered her to sit at his feet and she did, inwardly swearing to get back at him for that later. Gray got up from his seat when the next fight was announced.

"Don't forget what we told you last time," Natsu reminded him, "you were in a tough spot."

"Yeah, yeah."

Lucy watched the black haired young man walk to the ring and enter it.

"What happened last time?" she asked as he watched him stretch his muscles. "Was he beaten up?"

His opponent, a huge man with arms as wide as Lucy's thighs entered the ring. He had dark skin, tattoos and a long scar on his bald head.

"Hey," an old man called to Natsu from their left, "your female is talking. I'll shut her up for you if you can't do it."

The young man growled at him.

"Fuck off, old bastard," he spat. "I'll rip your arms off if you try."

Strangely enough, Natsu's threat didn't seem to make the old man angry. It was apparently normal to insult the others or pick a fight or two among the spectators.

"Didn't you say we mustn't attract attention?"

He shrugged.

"I would have attracted unwanted attention if I hadn't said a thing," he explained. "Territory stuff."

Lucy was waiting for a bell to ring to indicate the start of the fight, but it never came and the huge guy just suddenly pounced on Gray, yelling like a possessed bear.

"So, about Gray?" she asked again.

"Yeah, well," Natsu smirked. "No, he wasn't beaten up. The thing with Gray is that he's usually a pretty quiet guy. It takes a lot of effort to piss him off."

"Doesn't sound like he's fit to fight in this ring," Lucy thought out loud.

"Your female's still talking," the old man said again.

"I told you to shut the fuck up and mind your own fucking business," Natsu growled.

The enormous beastlike man roared in fury as Gray dodged another blow and smirked.

"So, Gray," Natsu went on. "Being this quiet, he tends to bottle his feelings up. And, when he's given an opportunity to relieve a bit of the pressure..."

Inside the ring, Gray kicked the back of his opponent's knees. The colossus fell and roared in anger. Lucy was starting to think that this person wasn't able to communicate with words.

"Easy, Gray," Gajeel called, smirking, "your face is scary."

Indeed, Gray looked like he was having the time of his life. The moment his opponent's knees hit the ground, he pounced on him and punched his jaw, nose, temples... Lucy stared at him, dumbfounded.

"He has difficulties holding back," Natsu concluded.

It took two more minutes before the colossus was declared unable to keep fighting. After he won, Gray came back to sit quietly beside his friends, not even panting.

"Awesome," Loke cheered, "three fights left and you're good."

Unsurprisingly, Gajeel obliterated his own opponent and Loke's gave up without a fight after the pervert whispered something in his ear. Natsu's first fight ended quickly, the young man knew how to pack a punch and he never missed his target. When he came back to sit down, Lucy was starting to get really bored.

"Are we done, now? Can we leave?"

"Not yet," he answered, "I have one more fight tonight."

"Why do you have two fights when the others only had one?"

Natsu smiled sadly and the softness in his eyes surprised her.

"It's part of the deal," he explained. "I'm lucky those guys are allowed to help me. Don't ask, I told you I'll explain everything later."

A handful of men entered the ring after that, they fought like beasts. Lucy saw a lot of broken bones, bleeding wounds and dirty money. Natsu drank a lot of water and had her massage his shoulders to prepare for the next fight. She was annoyed at her master's whims, but still complied, willing to do about anything to get out of this place as soon as possible.

"Your turn," Gray said as the ongoing fight came to an end. "Will you be ok?"

Natsu snorted as he stood up.

"Do you even need to ask?"

Lucy arched a brow, he really was confident. She watched him intently as he stepped over the large chain and entered the ring. He wasn't that tall when compared to the other men in that room, and his muscles were well defined and tense, but not huge like some of the fighters'.

"Oh," Gajeel's voice suddenly sounded nervous, "his next opponent's Jackal."

"Seriously?"

"That's pretty bad..."

Lucy frowned. Natsu's opponent was small. Small and chubby. She didn't understand how he could be a problem to Natsu. The chubby shrimp entered the ring and yawned, hands in his pockets. Lucy glanced at the spectators' faces, they all looked fascinated by this little bag of fat.

"This is ridiculous," she mumbled.

Natsu attacked first and Lucy saw that he was going all out right from the start. For an incomprehensible reason, Fatty managed to dodge him. Natsu tried to give a circular kick to take advantage of his previous impulse, but Fatty dodged it as well. That was when his opponent gave his first punch. Lucy couldn't believe her eyes. The blow almost dislocated Natsu's jaw and the bruise that would soon appear would mark him for weeks. The pink haired young man coughed blood and staggered like a drunk man.

The second punch took his left eye. This time, Natsu didn't manage to get back to his feet. He crawled away from Fatty on all fours and it took him long seconds to finally stand up.

"Shit," Gray growled, "he can't lose here. We're too close..."

"Close?"

Gray glanced at her, hesitated, but decided to speak anyway, seems like he felt the need to confide in someone.

"Apparently, Natsu didn't tell you why we come here," he sighed. "You remember the girl at the door? The small one with blue hair?"

Lucy nodded.

"Well, she's an orphan, her name's Wendy. And this guy, sitting there, is her owner."

"Owner?"

"Child slavery is forbidden in the capital city," Gray groaned, "but if you buy the kid somewhere else and enter the city with the child, then you can keep him. Or her, in this case."

Lucy glared at the man Gray had pointed to her. In the ring, Fatty grabbed Natsu by his hair and kicked his stomach.

"I still don't understand what this has to do with you guys."

Gray hesitated. Gajeel glared at him and shook his head.

"You already said too much," he scolded him, "Natsu will be mad at you."

"Well," Loke smiled, "if that's the case, we might as well tell her the whole truth. Then he'll have a valid reason to be mad at us." He turned to Lucy and his smile brightened. "Natsu met Wendy a few months ago, he was badly injured and she healed him. Afterwards, they kept meeting each other, Natsu got attached and went to speak with her owner. He wanted to buy her, but the man's already crazy rich, he wasn't interested in money. But he was a sucker for violence, and he told Natsu about the underground fight club."

"Natsu agreed to fight, he took the bet," Gray continued, "but there are conditions. He has to win one hundred fights in a row. If he loses even one of them, he has to restart from the beginning. If he wins, Wendy's free."

"Wendy's owner agreed to let us take part in the fights," Gajeel explained. "We were allowed to take part in twenty fights each, Natsu had to fight forty."

"Gray, Gajeel and I each have three fights left now," Loke smiled. "Natsu's four fights away from his goal."

"Only four?"

This time, Loke's smile lost some of its brightness.

"Yeah... he's been fighting a lot."

Lucy focused back on the fight. Natsu was coughing blood, he was bruised all over and panting. But Fatty had taken some blows as well, and Lucy noticed that he was being careful of some parts of his body. She stood from her chair and pushed an old man away from her.

"Hey," Gajeel called, "what are you doing?"

She ignored him and walked straight to the edge of the ring. When he was close enough, she grabbed Natsu's collar and forced him to look at her.

"Luce..."

"Listen to me," she ordered. "He had his left arm broken not too long ago, he's trying to protect it from your blows. His left knee is weak, hit it from inside. His eyesight is poor, try moving laterally as much as you can. And hit his lower back, hit it as often as you can, it's his weakest point of all."

"How do you..."

"Did you understand everything I said?"

He nodded and she let him go.

"Good. Now, go kick his ass."

Natsu walked back to the center of the ring, still staggering, but already trying to think of ways to use Lucy's advices.

"You done saying goodbye to your girl?" Fatty mocked. "Good. She looks hot even with that cloak. I'll take her when I'm done with you. Do you want me to tell you what I'll do to her when I take her home?"

Lucy sat back beside Gray and watched as Natsu focused on his balance. He ignored Fatty's provocation and squared off. For once, probably feeling too confident, Fatty attacked first. Natsu dodged laterally and everything happened really quickly after that. He grabbed Fatty's left arm and punched the elbow out. He kicked the inside of his left knee with all his strength and his opponent fell to the dusty floor. A second later, Natsu kicked his lower back with monstrous strength.

Fatty cried out, fell to the floor, Natsu hovering over him. The young man punched his opponent in the face several times, kicked his back and twisted his injured arm brutally.

When Fatty was declared unable to keep fighting. Natsu stood back up, smirking.

"You wouldn't have been able to do anything to her," he told his defeated opponent, "she would have killed you in seconds."

* * *

 **End of chapter 2**

I took my sweet time, but here's chapter 2! Chapter 1 got really enthusiastic reviews and a lot of you favorited and followed the story. I'm really grateful to all of you!

I have two other stories ongoing, so it's possible that I didn't answer some reviews, I'm really sorry about that, I'll try to answer everyone later!

Until next time!


	3. Chapter 3 - Pioneers

**THE LAST VALKYRIE**

CHAPTER 3 – PIONEERS

* * *

" _Many times when we help we do not really serve. . . . Serving is also different from fixing. One of the pioneers of the Human Potential Movement, Abraham Maslow, said, "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.' Seeing yourself as a fixer may cause you to see brokenness everywhere, to sit in judgment of life itself. When we fix others, we may not see their hidden wholeness or trust the integrity of the life in them. Fixers trust their own expertise. When we serve, we see the unborn wholeness in others; we collaborate with it and strengthen it. Others may then be able to see their wholeness for themselves for the first time."  
― Rachel Naomi Remen_

* * *

 _...IGNEEL..._

* * *

Igneel could tell right away that something was wrong. As soon as he entered his friend's inn, all eyes turned to him and he felt the full power of the occupants' anger. Nothing surprising there, though, Igneel knew that he'd have to explain himself after what he had done. The inn served as their organization's headquarters, so every person sitting in there officially supported their cause. Of course, they'd be furious that one of their most important supports did such a thing. Sitting at the bar, a young woman was talking with the barmaid. She turned around when she heard the brutal silence and jumped to her feet when she saw him.

"Igneel," she whispered with a very nervous voice, "tell me that it's just a rumor, tell me you didn't do that..."

The officer sighed, but didn't avert his eyes, nor did he apologize. He had done nothing wrong.

"It's not what you think," he started, but his interlocutor lowered her head in defeat and rubbed the bridge of her nose with two fingers.

"So you really did it," she deduced, "you bought a slave."

"Erza..."

"Do you realize what you've done!? We're losing the support of many influential people because of that, people think we're hypocrites and we can't exactly blame them! The governor of Stravia sent a messenger today, he won't support our project anymore! He was one of our greatest chances of talking in front of the Congress!"

Igneel sighed, to be honest, the consequences were worse than he had expected. Though, he wouldn't have acted differently, even if he had known about these consequences.

"I didn't know," he breathed.

Erza stared at him with such a pained look he had difficulties believing it really was her. She felt betrayed, he could see it, and she was probably thinking that she didn't know him at all. That the man who had agreed to support her project of making slavery a crime was just a liar that enjoyed this trade. She was most probably terrified about the idea of losing _him_ forever.

"Do I still have the right to explain myself?" he asked.

The young woman shook her head, disappointed, and her long, crimson hair undulated wildly around her shoulders.

"I'm not sure if I want to hear your excuses," she admitted.

"Erza," Igneel called, his voice firmer, "I've known you for years, I was here at the beginning. You know me, do you think I would've done that if I didn't have an excellent reason?"

Erza frowned, but listened as Igneel told her about the little girl he had met, several years ago. He told her about her mother, the fearless pirate captain, he told her what this supposedly terrible pirate had done for him at the time.

"I failed to protect her," Igneel groaned, "but I won't let her daughter down. It's my duty to take care of her."

Erza was holding her tears back, she nodded and sniffed.

"You should've said so sooner," she sobbed. "But why don't you free her?"

Igneel's eyes darkened.

"Everyone knows about her now, thanks to this idiot trader," he growled. "If I free her, she'll be targeted by every bounty hunter, slave trader and soldier of the country. I could help her escape the country, though, create a new identity she could use abroad, give her money and everything she'd need. But I need time for that. In the meantime, she'll spend some time with Natsu. You know how he is lately, I think it will do him some good."

Erza nodded in agreement.

"You're right," she admitted, "I was actually going to beat some sense into him soon, but I guess we can try your method before that."

Igneel smiled gently at her. She looked a bit relieved now that she knew the truth, but she obviously was worried about the outcome of their upcoming fight. He ruffled her hair and she arched a brow at him.

"Don't worry," he smiled brightly, "I'll do something about the governor of Stravia. I'll get the supports we lost back. I'll fix everything and we'll talk in front of the Congress. We _will_ free him, I promise."

Erza smiled back, genuinely this time.

"I trust you," she assured.

* * *

 _...LUCY..._

* * *

Natsu refused to be supported by his friends to get out of the fight club. He staggered and winced at each step, but walked on his own. Eventually, though, when his friends went their separate ways, he accepted Lucy's help.

"You're forbidden to tell anyone about that," he groaned in pain.

"Yes, yes."

They walked like that for a few minutes, Natsu's arm around Lucy's shoulders and Lucy's arm around his waist, with Natsu trying and failing to hold back his whimpers and growls. When they found the grassy slope they had climbed down a few hours earlier, Lucy asked him if he wanted to take a break.

"No way," he protested, panting, "I'm totally fine."

Lucy didn't try to argue with him. She still didn't like the guy, but had to admit that what he was doing for that girl was admirable. She wouldn't make fun of his pain, this time. She started to walk along the natural trail leading up the slope, ignoring her master's curse words and groans. When they were out of view and on flat ground, Natsu did ask for a break.

"It's not like I'm in pain or anything," he pretended, "I just don't want you to get tired because I'm heavy or something."

"I'm not tired," she assured.

"It's ok, no need to play tough," he breathed and Lucy rolled her eyes. "Let's just sit down for a bit."

Lucy helped him to sit down and settled herself beside him. The grass was a bit cold, but the wind was cool and she gazed at the stars, feeling soothed. Natsu's breathing slowed down a bit and she found herself relaxing as well. Now that she was peacefully sitting far from any distraction, Lucy took the time to think about her future. It was a strange feeling, to know that you had a future to plan. Until a few hours ago, her only plan was to survive another day.

What should she do, now? She was pretty sure that she'd never be safe anywhere now that everyone knew who she was, not even at the Dragneel's. But she could at least take advantage of her time there to regain her strength, eat as much as she could, sleep as much as she could. Until the day she'd have to leave, eventually. Igneel would soon come to understand that her presence was a threat to his family and kick her out without paying her. She was prepared for that, that's why she wouldn't get attached to anyone in this city.

But what would she do after she left? She'd travel to another country, that much was for sure. And then? Lucy's heart felt awfully hollow now that she started to realize that not only had she nowhere to go, she had no one to turn to. The crew had been annihilated, the ship sank, she had no idea who her real parents were, she had no friends anywhere. She was alive, yes, but what would she use that empty life for? And yet, she knew she was never going to stop fighting for her life. Was she going to fight her whole life without knowing why?

"Didn't you have questions?" Natsu suddenly asked. "About the fights?"

Lucy glanced at him for a second before she focused back on the stars.

"It's fine," she said, "your friends already explained everything to me."

"What?" he sounded a bit angry. "What did they tell you?"

Lucy was surprised at the change of tone, but as usual did a good job at hiding it and kept a neutral, jaded face.

"Not much," she said. "They told me that you were fighting to free the little girl with blue hair."

The young man eyed her sceptically, but she wasn't sure if his face only had a weird look because he doubted her words or because he was in pain.

"That's all?"

She shrugged.

"More or less."

The boy groaned as he shifted to look at her in the eye.

"What does that mean? Did they tell you anything else or not?"

"Just that you were injured when you met her and she healed you."

With a heavy sigh, Natsu slumped back on the grass, holding his sides. That was only then that Lucy noticed that he wasn't moving his left arm at all.

"They talk too much," he groaned.

Lucy focused on the stars again.

"Don't worry, I have absolutely no interest in your life," she assured him.

He laughed humorlessly at that and she arched a brow at him.

"You're not even saying that to be sassy," he noticed, "you're serious. I pity your family. If you have a man in your life, I hope you don't talk to him like that..."

"I don't have a family," she interrupted him sharply. "All the people I knew and loved were killed when the navy attacked and sank the ship."

An awkward silence ensued and Lucy mentally berated herself: since when was she the kind of person to openly display her emotions? The time she had spent on land was starting to change her, she was getting soft.

"Sorry," Natsu finally said, "I didn't think."

"No, you didn't," she agreed.

The young man rolled his eyes and groaned in annoyance.

"Look," he snapped, "I know I just said something stupid, but I'm trying to be nice to you there. I would appreciate a bit of gratitude."

This time, the stars stopped shining brightly enough to keep her attention on them. She glared at him and jumped back to her feet.

"I don't need your kindness, nor do I need your pity," she spat. "I don't care about you or what you think about me. The only reason why I still haven't hit the road is because of the money your father promised me."

"Oh yeah?"

The young man groaned in pain and gritted his teeth as he struggled to stand back up as well, visibly feeling pretty angry.

"Then, go ahead," he growled. "The deal was that you'd be free if you could beat me up. Try me now. I'm hurt, you might have a chance. Don't look at me with those exasperated eyes! If you want to talk like a heartless bitch, then act like one! I'm standing, come at me!"

Lucy felt her nails dig into her palms. He was the one asking for it, after all. She punched his jaw hard, where Fatty had hit him before, and watched as he stumbled backwards. He didn't fall, though. He massaged his injured jaw and coughed blood. She had reopened the slit on his lip.

"That's it?" he asked. "Come on, Luce, I know you can do better than this."

Her whole body was tense with anger and another emotion she didn't recognize, an emotion she didn't remember having ever known.

"Don't call me Luce."

"Why?" he laughed madly. "I like it. It fits you."

"Don't," she growled lowly. "Don't call me that."

"I'll call you that as much as I want," he retorted, not smiling at all anymore. "You were all talk, in the end. I'm not surprised that you couldn't save anyone from the crew."

Lucy froze and stared at him with wide eyes for a second. Had he really just said that? His face was hard, his eyes cold and his body tense. Her whole body was suddenly burning with fury and grief, with hatred toward him. He had done it on purpose, he knew it was the only way to get to her. He wanted her to beat him up for real. Whether he was only being a capricious brat, or he had an ulterior motive, Lucy didn't know and couldn't care less. He wanted her angry, he got what he wanted.

She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and, to be honest, wasn't sure of what she was going to do next. For some reason, her attention was caught by his left arm. Even though, he was about to be beaten up to a bleeding pulp, the only thing he was protecting was his arm. She let go of his collar and tore his shirt open, making him flinch.

"What the..."

She grabbed his left arm and he whined in pain. When she moved the fabric on his shoulder to have a look at it, she immediately noticed that his shoulder was dislocated.

"Why didn't you say anything?" she asked.

She had other questions, such as: " _why in the world were you trying to get me to beat you up when you're already this injured?"_ But she didn't care about him anyway, so she wouldn't ask.

He tried to shrug, but failed and winced in pain.

"It's not a big deal," he mumbled, "I'll have it treated by the old hag."

Lucy frowned at him. His whole body was covered with bruises, she was pretty sure that he was having one hell of a hard time at the moment.

"Do you want me to reduce the dislocation?" she offered. "It should be less painful after that."

Natsu eyed her doubtfully and she couldn't help but feel annoyed.

"Do you know how to do that?"

"I've done it so many times I can't count them," she bragged.

"I don't know if that's cool or sad," he admitted, laughing weakly. "Ok then, give it a try."

Lucy nodded and pointed to the ground.

"You have to lie down."

He obeyed and she sat by his side. The crew's doctor, Libra, would often ask Lucy if she wanted to assist her during such manipulations. Lucy learned a lot of things while observing her. And by the time she was old and strong enough to do it on her own, her crew was famous enough to be involved in a fight on a daily basis, so she had a lot of practice. Lucy took Natsu's wrist and positioned it with meticulous, careful movements. So far so good. Natsu observed her all the while, eyes successively glued to her hands and her face. Lucy lifted her eyes to find his.

"I'm sorry," she breathed, "it will be painful."

He smiled to her.

"I know, I'm used to it," he assured.

And it did hurt a lot, as expected. The young man groaned and whimpered at each rotation, which amazed Lucy: it was her first time performing a reduction on a conscious man that handled the pain that well. They usually yelled, cried and thrashed around. When she was done, she positioned his arm against his chest and ordered him to stay still. She turned around to show him her back and took off her shirt. She didn't know if Natsu was watching when she took a knife out of her boot to cut a piece of fabric from her shirt. He would later ask her where she even found a knife, but she obviously never answered him. She also tore the sleeves off and tied the pieces of fabric together tightly. When she put the cloth back on, her arms and stomach were showing. She didn't care. She turned around to face Natsu again and wrapped the makeshift scarf around his shoulders, making sure that his arm was correctly resting inside.

"There," she sighed. "You should be feeling better."

She frowned when she didn't hear him answer and lifted her eyes. He was watching her intently, his face much softer than earlier. He sat up and she instinctively took a step back. A few more seconds passed and Lucy grew embarrassed under his unyielding gaze.

"What is it?" she finally asked, her voice a bit raspy.

He smiled, then. Not a wide, toothy grin, but still a smile and she was stunned by the brightness that was suddenly illuminating his face.

"I was wrong about you," he chuckled, "you're not a heartless bitch at all. You probably couldn't be cruel to someone even if your life depended on it."

Lucy's eyes widened and she felt the heat rush to her face. She hadn't expected that. She glared at him, sniffed and jumped back to her feet.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she retorted. "Fatty probably hit your head too hard."

Natsu laughed as he extended an arm toward her and she automatically bent down to help him up.

"I'm sure of it," he smirked, "you're too nice. You say all those mean things to keep people away, but the truth is that you're too nice."

"You're an idiot," she mumbled, still blushing and feeling very annoyed at herself.

"And you're a bad liar. That's fine, though. Now that I know that you're really a good person, I don't mind your foul language anymore."

"Don't say I have a foul language..."

"Then stop insulting me every time you open your mouth," he laughed. "Alright, let's go back home, Luce. I'm starving."

Lucy winced at the nickname, but didn't snap at him like she had done earlier. This time, it didn't feel like he was looking down on her anymore. Lucy glanced at him, he was still smiling despite the pain he was obviously feeling with every step he took. She didn't know him that well, having only met him a few hours ago, but she thought that it suited him better to smile innocently like that. The hard look he'd had all day long didn't seem to bother his family and friends, but it didn't feel natural to her. She thought of what his friend told her during his fight: apparently, Natsu had been fighting a lot for some months now. She thought of the way he had tried to push her to her limits, a moment earlier. He's doing it on purpose, she understood. He wants to get hurt. She briefly wondered why he would want such a thing, but then remembered that she didn't care about him anyway.

They didn't go back home, like Lucy had expected. They walked within the Dragneel estate until they reached a small house, very far away from the other outbuildings. The old woman that opened the door looked like she had just escaped the ninth circle of hell. She was wearing a black nightgown underneath a red peignoir that covered her from head to toe. From underneath the nightcap, you could see wild strands of purple hair. Lucy's face stayed neutral even when the old witch threatened to kill them before letting them in.

"The one who treated you did a fairly good job," the old witch admitted. "I'll just take that weird cloth off and give you something more appropriate to immobilize your arm."

"Lucy was the one who treated me," Natsu bragged. "She's great, isn't she? Even though she's rude and violent."

Was he praising her or insulting her? The old witch glanced at Lucy before humming.

"Yeah, I heard about you," she mumbled. "The daughter of a pirate, sold as a slave. Your dignity probably suffers a lot from this situation."

Lucy's eyes darkened and her voice was low when she answered.

"She wasn't just a mere pirate," she retorted. "She was the greatest captain of this era."

The old hag shrugged as if it was no big deal and Lucy gritted her teeth and clenched her fists.

"Yeah, well," the old witch countered. "See where it led her."

That really angered her. She walked across the room and went to stand in front of the old woman, towering over her, actually.

"Don't talk about her," she growled, "you don't know a thing about her..."

"Oh, I don't, now, do I?" the old witch rolled her eyes and turned her back to Lucy as if she wasn't even there. "Know that I met your mother when you were still in your dad's balls, brat."

Lucy froze and her eyes widened.

"Wh... What did you say?"

Natsu also stopped talking. If he had looked a bit worried at the turn of events, he was now as curious as Lucy. The old hag sighed and walked back to the center of the room to take care of Natsu's arm.

"This is why I hate humans," she grumbled, "always asking questions and being noisy... Yes, child, I knew your mother. And I was actually part of the crew for a few years. I taught their new doctor everything I knew."

She was the one who taught Libra? Lucy's eyes widened even more, a thousand questions whirling inside her head, fighting to be the one to be asked first.

"You were a Valkyrie?"

The old hag clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"I just said that I was, don't make me repeat myself all the time."

"Why did you leave the crew?"

"That's private. Your mother knew my reasons, she didn't try to stop me."

A moment of silence ensued. They were still so many questions jostling in her head that she didn't know where to start. There was another Valkyrie... she wasn't the only survivor. She stared at the old woman. It was true that she had the kind of temper that would fit just alright in the crew. Still...

"Prove it," Lucy said.

The old witch eyed her weirdly.

"What?"

"If you really were a Valkyrie then you should know something about us that no one else does," Lucy went on. "Say something that only a Valkyrie would know."

The old woman glared at her and slapped the back of Natsu's head.

"Ouch! What was that for!?"

"She made me angry, but she's too far away and I don't want to run after her," the old hag groaned. "Since you're the one who brought her here, you'll take responsibility for her."

"What the hell..."

"So?" Lucy insisted.

The old woman groaned loudly and glared at the young blonde slave.

"Why should I? I don't give a shit if you don't believe me."

Lucy gritted her teeth, annoyed, and crossed the room in three large, quick steps, until she could grab the old bitch by her stupid peignoir. But Natsu jumped to his feet when he saw her make for the old witch and stood in between them.

"Don't do that, Luce," he ordered.

"We're talking about my mother here," Lucy's voice was shaking. "I deserve to know."

"You won't get any answer if you behave like that."

The old hag observed them quietly from her spot, not moving an inch and acting as she wasn't concerned by what was being said. Natsu glanced at her over his shoulder and she could see that the boy wanted answers just as much as the girl. She sighed.

"When I left the Valkyries," she said, "the crew was getting famous. For some reason, though, no one outside the crew knew your mother's name. People just called her the Valkyrie."

Lucy watched her intently as the old woman's eyes found hers. She didn't look like an old witch anymore when she was talking about the Valkyries: she looked like an old witch that once had been a warrior.

"But we, the members of the crew, we knew her by her code name: Aquarius."

Lucy felt a stray tear run down her cheek when the face of her mother appeared in her mind: her malicious eyes, her provocative smirk, her blue hair, her tattoo. The old woman slightly smiled as well.

"Some of us even knew her real name," she added.

Lucy nodded and wiped her eyes.

"She really must have trusted you if she told you her real name," Lucy noted.

"The trust was mutual," the old lady assured. "Ok, enough talk for tonight. You're polluting my home's air, get out."

Both Natsu and Lucy were then kicked out of the small house, Natsu with a brand new bandage around his arm, Lucy with thousands of unanswered questions.

"This is crazy," the young man mused out loud, "I knew she had lived one hell of a life before coming here, but I'd never have thought she had been a freaking Valkyrie."

Lucy felt as confused as Natsu did, maybe even more. She knew that some Valkyries had dropped out at some point, but it never crossed her mind that she could meet some of them.

"What's her name?" she finally asked.

Natsu glanced at her over his shoulder, but she wasn't looking at him.

"You mean the old hag's? It's Porlyusica. Does it ring a bell?"

Lucy frowned. Porlyusica? She'd never heard of her before. Weird. The only former Valkyrie doctor she had heard of had a name that started with a G: Garland? Grenadine? Whatever.

"No," she answered. "Whatever. Let's get you home before you break another bone."

Natsu scoffed and winced when he felt his ribs protest in pain.

"I'm totally fine," he retorted, not sounding fine at all. "Ah, now that I think about it, you're obviously not allowed to say a word about this to my parents or the servants."

Lucy arched a brow and smirked at him.

"Is the master afraid of being scolded for fighting?"

Natsu turned to face her and even if he didn't look angry, he wasn't smiling either.

"I'm not afraid of angering them," he corrected, "I'm afraid of causing them pain. They'll be worried sick about me if they hear about this and I don't want them to freak out every time I leave the house. Because I won't stop, no matter what they say, and I know it will hurt them. Can I count on your discretion?"

Lucy shrugged.

"Sure," she distractedly answered.

The truth was that she was surprised at how considerate he was of his parents' feelings. If she was only acting as a heartless bitch, to quote him, then he was definitely only acting as a selfish, egocentric brat as well. They were both liars that didn't even know when they were lying to themselves anymore.

"What shall I tell your parents when they ask how you got your wounds?" she asked.

Natsu shrugged and winced in pain when he did.

"I don't know," he sighed, "just tell them I was hit by a carriage or something. They're used to seeing me wounded, so it should be fine."

They're used to seeing him wounded? Lucy rolled her eyes at his foolishness. He didn't want to tell his parents that he was fighting to free a little girl, but showing up every morning with serious wounds was fine. " _Your parents are most probably already worried sick about you, idiot,"_ she inwardly sighed.

When they came back to the mansion, Natsu was back to his cold, distant self. The maid who opened the door frowned when she saw his wounds and tried to ask him about them, but he brushed her off and walked in without saying anything. He sent Lucy back to her room and she left him without hesitation, feeling relieved to be temporarily freed of her burden. She crashed in her bed as soon as she entered the room and giggled to herself. Tonight, she'd be sleeping in a real freaking bed! With a fluffy mattress and light sheets and even a warm blanket! She stripped to her underwear and buried herself under the covers to go to sleep when she heard soft footsteps outside her door. Lucy bent over the bed to grab her dagger when the door slowly opened. She put it back down when she saw the intruder, though.

A very small girl, not older than five, slowly entered the room. Lucy frowned, was she lost? The child hesitated before walking toward the bed, slowly, as if afraid to wake her up. From what she could see in the dark, the girl had short, black hair and big eyes, but that was about everything she could make out. Lucy decided to shift in the bed then, bringing her arms behind her head.

"May I help you, young girl?" she asked.

She had to bite her laugh back when the kid blenched and took a few steps back.

"You're not sleeping?" the small voice asked.

Lucy smiled and sat up in her bed.

"Well, no, as you can see," she smiled. "What are you doing here?"

Lucy then noticed that the child was holding something in her hands. Was that a pan? She raised a finger in front of her mouth and she shushed her.

"Shh," she said, "I came to save you!"

Lucy chuckled. Granted, this kid was preventing her from getting some much needed sleep, but she was entertaining, she had to admit.

"Save me?" she repeated, trying not to sound like she was having fun. "Save me from what?"

Lucy's smile widened when the little girl crouched to check what was under her bed.

"I heard dad's friends say there's probably a maneater here," she whispered. "Come with me, quick! Before he comes to eat you!"

Lucy burst out laughing, holding her stomach. This kid was just too adorable! So his father's friends were already spreading rumors about her? Whatever, thanks to them, she was having a lot of fun at the moment. She stopped laughing when the kid started to pout, but couldn't wipe the amused smile off her face.

"Don't worry, kid," she assured, "I can hold my own."

The little girl tilted her head in confusion.

"It means that I'm stronger than any maneater," she explained.

The little girl's eyes widened and she glanced at Lucy with admiration, letting the pan fall to the floor before running to her bed and jumping on it.

"Really!?" she asked. "Then, you're super strong! Like Natsu!"

Lucy's smile widened as she ruffled the girl's hair affectionately.

"I'm even stronger than Natsu," she assured.

"Whoaaa! Awesome!"

Lucy let her back fall back to the mattress, not minding the little girl's presence anymore.

"So," she asked, "what's your name? Why are you here?"

The little girl casually slipped into the sheets and made herself comfortable, not minding Lucy's nudity.

"I'm Asuka," she grinned widely. "I live with my parents in a house near here, but I also have a room at the end of the corridor for when my parents want to do adult things at night."

Lucy burst out laughing again, this kid was just too much! This time, Asuka joined her, probably not really knowing why she was laughing, but still happy to have a reason to do so.

"I see," she said, "you're a smart girl, aren't you?"

"Yup," Asuka agreed. "What's your name?"

"I'm Lucy," she said, "I... kind of work here."

Asuka pulled the sheets up to her chin and sighed in content. Lucy smiled as she watched her do, she figured the girl was feeling a bit lonely.

"Can you tell me a story?" the girl asked.

Lucy hesitated, thought about it for a moment, but couldn't think of any bedtime story since she had never heard one. She shrugged, deciding that the story of the day the Valkyries raided the Imperial Bank of Trastia could work as a funny bedtime story. Asuka fell asleep after five minutes, though, so Lucy never got the chance to tell her about the funny face the president of the Bank made when he found out that his security agents had been beaten up by a bunch of filthy pirates. Lucy herself fell asleep soon after.

When Lucy opened her eyes again, she was immediately assaulted by the blinding light of the sun shining through the window. She heard giggles and turned her head to find the servant, Cana, looking at her with an amused smile.

"I was wondering where she had gone," she whispered. "So she came here."

Lucy turned her head to the other side. Her left arm was heavy and she understood why when she saw Asuka's head resting on it, her arms wrapped tightly around Lucy's waist. Lucy yawned and turned back to Cana.

"Did you need anything?"

The servant nodded.

"Yes," she confirmed. "Your presence is required in the living room. The Dragneels are waiting for you for breakfast."

Lucy groaned and covered her eyes with her arm.

"I suppose I can't ask for breakfast to be brought up to my room?"

"Indeed, you can't," Cana laughed.

The servant gathered the small form of the sleeping Asuka in her arms. The little girl shifted to get comfortable in her arms, but didn't wake up.

"I'll tell them you'll be there soon," Cana smiled and walked out of the room.

Lucy wasn't so sure about the 'soon' part, but she still dragged her sorry self out of her heavenly bed. She got dressed quickly and was still yawning when she walked out of the room. Where was the living room again? This mansion was just way too big. It took her a moment to find the right room and she frowned when she heard Natsu's mother cheer loudly when she entered.

"Take that!" she screamed. "I win! Guess who's going to go visit the elderly for this year's Solidarity Festival?"

"But I have work at that time..." Igneel sulked.

"See how much I care," Natsu's mother sang as she danced around the table. "Blame your son for being so slow to wake up."

Lucy waited until one of the servants motioned for her to take a seat and she did, still looking at the Dragneels with confused eyes.

"Sorry about that," Natsu's mother cheered, not sounding sorry at all. "We made a bet about who would come down first. I was sure you'd be first, but Igneel wanted to bet on Natsu, how naive! And I won, thanks to you! Thank you, Lucy!"

Lucy smiled cautiously and nodded at her.

"Sure..."

"You scared her," Igneel accused.

"Nonsense," his wife countered with a bright smile. "It's a victory for the women of the house, she's just as delighted as I am!"

Victory for the women of the house, Lucy inwardly laughed, that very much sounded like something Aquarius could have said had she survived the attack.

"What are you being so noisy in the morning for?" a grumpy voice came from the doorway.

"Your mother won a stupid, completely insignificant bet and she's way too happy about it," Igneel groaned. "And why does it take you so long to wake up, damn it."

"Hey, loser," Igneel's wife called, "would you mind asking your son how he ended up in this state?"

Igneel arched a brow at her.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?"

She shrugged and sat back down as if she hadn't been dancing and laughing like a young girl a moment before.

"I don't want to deal with his stupidity today," she explained. "Do your job as a father and beat some sense into him."

Igneel laughed and even Lucy couldn't help the amused smile that graced her face, even if only for a second.

"Hey, the stupid brat you're talking about is standing right in front of you," her pink haired master groaned.

"Oh dear, that's true," his mother exclaimed in mock surprise. "I didn't notice you underneath all those bruises."

"Yeah," his father agreed. "You look even uglier than usual today."

The young man slumped in a chair beside his father and Lucy saw that even he couldn't hold his amused smile back any longer.

"Yeah, right, laugh all you want," he scoffed, "you unworthy parents. You should show some sympathy for your injured son."

"You're right," Igneel smirked. "Do you want daddy to give you a big hug?"

"Do you want mommy to kiss the pain away?"

Natsu's parents kept on teasing him like that for a moment, exchanging jokes between themselves and laughing a lot. And it conjured a hazy image in Lucy's mind that felt somewhat familiar, but was too far away in time, so Lucy brushed it off.

"Joke aside," Igneel said, "I'll need your help for work today. We're leaving in thirty minutes."

Natsu finally glanced at Lucy. It was the first time that day that he recognized her presence.

"Is the slave coming too?" he asked.

The slave, Lucy mentally repeated. He was much nicer the day before, when he had her reduce the dislocation of his shoulder. Was he trying to act tough now that the pain had lessened? It was too late for that anyway, Lucy had caught a glimpse of the real Natsu the night before, and she knew that it was still there, despite his attempts at chocking his old self. Why he wanted to become a pathetic, self-centered jerk was beyond her. But she didn't care about him, anyway. Igneel glared at him.

"Don't call her that," he retorted.

Natsu didn't avert his eyes.

"You gave her to me," he reminded his father. "She's my slave, I can call her whatever I want."

Igneel glared at him some more, but ended up smirking.

"Well, you have arguments," he conceded. "Erza and Mirajane will be there, so we'll just ask them what they think about it."

Lucy almost laughed when she saw the look of defiance in Natsu's eyes vanish all of a sudden.

"What? We're going to the inn? Isn't it weird to bring a slave to that place?"

"Why would it be weird?" Igneel asked. "We're fighting for human rights, so everyone's obviously welcome to join us, slaves included. And Erza wants to meet her. Alright, go get ready, kids. We're leaving soon!"

* * *

oOo

* * *

They went to town in Igneel's carriage, much to Natsu's dismay. It seemed that the young man had some kind of motion sickness that didn't apply to living beings, though. Lucy smirked at him when he groaned and held his stomach.

"The young master doesn't look too good," she snickered. "Is the young master going to throw up?"

"Shut up," he growled as his father burst out laughing.

He practically flew out of the carriage when they stopped. Lucy glanced at Igneel and the older man smiled at her, encouraging her to go out. She did so and found herself facing a large building that seemed pretty old and from where she could hear loud voices, laughing and screams.

"Welcome to our HQ, Lucy," he grinned. "This is where we take most of the important decisions."

Lucy frowned at the upside down panel.

"What's this place?" she asked.

Igneel's smile widened as he opened the door.

"We're a new political party that's focusing on human rights and equality," he explained. "Soon, we'll meet the President of the Congress and talk in front of the most important politicians of the country to convince them to adopt a law to prohibit any form of slave trading. I say 'them', but the only person who'll take the decision will be the President."

Inside, people turned to look at them and all the conversations died down as soon as they recognized her. Igneel walked toward the bar and Lucy followed him, not really paying any attention to Natsu or anyone anymore.

"Hey Mira," Igneel greeted. "How are you doing?"

The young woman who was wiping a mug behind the counter smiled at him sweetly. If she was surprised by Lucy's presence, the blonde couldn't tell.

"I'm fine, thank you," she answered. "What about you?"

Igneel nodded distractedly and sighed.

"I had a long night," he sighed, "but I'll survive! So, guess who came along today?"

The barmaid's eyes finally met Lucy's as the blonde woman took a seat on a stool.

"Well," she chuckled, "I assume this is the Valkyrie's daughter everyone's been talking about since yesterday, Lucy."

Lucy smirked at the name: the Valkyrie's daughter. It sounded really cool. Mira extended a hand and Lucy shook it gently, noticing the thin wrist and delicate hand of the woman.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," she assured.

"Same."

What? She wasn't good with people like her, she was too sweet. Lucy wasn't used to pretty, gentle princesses, she grew up with female warriors that occasionally used her for their training.

"Don't try to act all cool and mighty," Natsu's jaded voice intervened. "She's not a real Valkyrie or anything. She only has a big mouth."

Before Lucy could retort, the barmaid glared at him.

"Natsu," she scolded him, "don't talk like that! It's rude!"

He scoffed and the beautiful barmaid smirked.

"What would Erza say if she heard you?"

Lucy saw the young man visibly flinch, but he still didn't quit playing the tough idiot.

"Why should I care about the opinion of a violent thug like her," he mumbled.

Mira's smile froze and Lucy noticed that the atmosphere suddenly got a lot darker and heavier. She turned around to find a woman standing right behind them. Lucy had never met her before, but she understood at first glance that this person was not to be messed with. Her crimson hair ran down to her lower back as her hands were resting on her hips.

"Violent thug," she repeated in a low-pitched voice. "You wouldn't happen to be talking about me, would you?"

Lucy kept staring at the newcomer, but she still could hear her master gulp loudly. Someone was going to have a tough time.

* * *

 **End of chapter 3**

Hello again, everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Nothing really captivating happened, but we're still at the very beginning of the story, so it's normal. Don't worry, things will get serious at some point (those of you who read Dauntless know I don't write boring stuff forever).

Thank you so much to everyone who already left reviews, favorited and followed the story!

See you soon!


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